On our most recent trip we had a very big first: Honeybun used a booster in the car for the first time. At home she is still in harnessed seats for many reasons but our last trip with three car seats was absolutely overwhelming and we decided she was mature enough to use a booster for the week we were gone.
She’s been begging for a booster for almost a year since she started kindergarten and learned all of her friends are in boosters since Florida currently only requires children to be in a car seat until age 4 and only requires children to be restrained until age 5 (yes, at age 5 a child does not have to be restrained AT ALL. This law is changing in January and will require a car/booster seat for all children 5 and under but only when with immediate family members anyone transporting a child as a “favor” is exempt…don’t get me started on this ridiculousness!)
I got her a Safety 1st BoostApak since it doubles as a backpack so was one less thing to carry. Even though it’s technically a no back booster (there is a flap that goes behind the back but it does not provide any support) and generally it’s recommended to use a high back booster when transitioning out of a harnessed seat, this was the safest and easiest option for our situation and the belt fit was good on her. It also has a shoulder belt guide which does a pretty good job of keeping the shoulder belt properly placed (which is one of the main functions of the back on a high back booster).
I’ve been waiting to transition her because she is small for her age (just hitting 40 pounds in the past few months) and I know that even though there is no research to prove a harnessed seat is safer than a properly used booster, I worry about her sitting properly all the time and I know if she is out of position at the wrong time it could (literally) be a matter of life and death.
The main concern with transitioning to a booster is the child sleeping in the car but before we went I wasn’t too concerned about that since she rarely sleeps in the car. What I didn’t account for, though, was our late night flight (arriving at 11:00 pm) and the faraway activities we had planned.
On our drive from the airport I reminded her to sit properly and keep the shoulder belt across her shoulder. She did great the first half hour but the last 10-15 minutes (after not taking a nap or sleeping on the plane) were rough. I had to wake her up multiple times and get her to reposition. She was okay with it and I knew it was just because it was new for her.
The next few days she was fine, even with a few hour or so rides, she sat nicely only needing gentle reminders to fix the belt or sit properly (she kept slouching to the side which a high back would have helped with immensely). The second to last day, however, was a struggle. After a day wandering around Boston, she was exhausted and kept dozing off, falling to side and out of the shoulder belt. I tried gently waking her and reminding her to sit properly but she was not having it.
By the time we got home she was nearly in tears, angry and had repeatedly screamed things like “I don’t want to sit properly! I hate my booster! I want my car seat so I can just sit however I want!”
Luckily I’m not ready to move her to a booster anyways (though we will keep using it as our travel seat). She still has room to grow in her harnessed seats and with our three-across situations, it’s much easier and I worry about her accidentally unbuckling her brother or sister’s seat on accident anyways (which she did once on our trip). I was very proud of her a few months ago when a ballet friend asked her why she still rode in a “baby” seat and she confidently responded “It’s not a baby seat!” and laughed.
I remind my children constantly that their safety is what is most important and we have shared stories with them of children who were injured or killed when not buckled up properly. They also now point out accidents and say “that’s why we need our seatbelts! I hope they are okay and were buckled up!”
